Long Bright River
In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.
Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit — and her sister — before it's too late.
Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.
Author: Liz Moore | Publisher: Riverhead
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Rating: 4.5 / 5
Long Bright River is another highly anticipated early-2020 release. It will be published January 7th, but it was a December 2019 Book of the Month option, so a lot of people have had the chance to read it early. These early reviews are positive, and mine is no different — this book is very good. Despite its length at over 450 pages, I read it in only a few sittings. The chapters are short and the narration moves quickly, and it pulls you all the way through to the end.
The main character and narrator is Mickey, a single mother and police officer in Philadelphia. Her neighborhood is Kensington, which was once a bustling manufacturing hub but is now home to a lot of people down on their luck, including a lot of people with substance abuse problems. One of those people is Mickey’s little sister, Kacey. Then a string of murders begins in Kensington at the same time Kacey goes missing, and Mickey is yanked into both mysteries with force, with a couple of well-placed twists along the way.
I wouldn’t characterize this book as a thriller, but more as a slow-burn mystery with family drama thrown in. The plot is there, yes, and it picks up the closer you get to the end of the book, and eventually you are really turning pages. But this one is just as much about sisterhood, and class, and privilege, and family, and belonging, and parenthood. It’s a sort of love letter to the city of Philadelphia and Kensington in particular.
Liz Moore is an exacting and insightful writer. Mickey’s character is impressive, especially considering her reserved nature, her unwillingness to supply information, to emote — and it’s told in the first person. To be able to provide such a rich picture of her and stay true to her nature in the narration? So, so effective.
This is sure to be a big hit in the early months of 2020!